Fact Check: Subramanian Swami did not attend Opposition party meeting
Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, tweeted a photo of a media briefing on 25 September.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 26 Sept 2021 1:35 PM IST
Hyderabad: Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, tweeted a photo of a media briefing on 25 September. Via the tweet he claimed that BJP leader Subramanian Swami attended the media briefing held by Opposition parties, indicating that he had officially joined the Opposition.
Tajinder tweeted, "Congratulations @Swamy39 Ji for your officially Joining (sic)." (archive)
Opposition leaders like Congress president Rahul Gandhi, then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and NCP leader Sharad Pawar, can also be seen in the photo.
The tweet has received over 1,567 retweets and 9,991 likes at the time of writing this article.
Fact Check:
The claim that Subramanian Swami attended a media briefing held by Opposition parties is false.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found the same photo carried by Getty Images dated 10 December 2018. A meeting was held by the Opposition leaders to "chart out strategy for 2019 Lok Sabha polls." The photo shows Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister H.D Deve Gowda, then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) leader Sharad Yadav, and other party leaders at a press conference after the meeting of Opposition parties at the Parliament House Annexe on 10 December 2018 in New Delhi. There is no mention of Subramanian Swami.
NewsMeter also searched for media reports about this meeting. According to Business Standard, the meeting was held a day before the results of the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram Assembly polls were scheduled to be announced. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu coordinated the meeting and invited the leaders of all non-BJP parties. However, none of these reports mention Subramanian Swami attending the meeting. (Links: Business Standard, Zee News, Times of India)
We then compared the man in the viral image to photos of Swami and found that the two are not alike.
Further, NewsMeter searched online using the keyword "Subramanian Swamy December 10, 2018" and found that on that day Swamy attended a video interview with ANI in light of Urjit Patel resigning as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Several reports were published on this date. (Links: Financial Express, Times of India)
Evidently, the claim that Subramanian Swami attended the Opposition party's meeting is false.
